My eyes popped out of my head when I heard the news of a 9.0 earthquake. There have only been 2 previously recorded earthquakes of such power: a 9.1 in Alaska in 1952 that turned Anchorage into a crumbling shell, and a 9.5 of the coast of Chile in 1960 — the most powerful earthquake ever recorded — that sent tsunamis racing across the Pacific and smashing into Hawaii and Japan!
And now, there is a third natural act of terror to join the other two.
The scope of the this earthquake/tsunami — ravaging the nations around the Indian Ocean basin — boggles my mind. The death toll (as of this entry, 21 000) rising by the hour, the sheer reach of the destruction…it feels like the hand of some powerful god reaching down and thumping the very Earth itself.
The pictures of the water rushing onto land are captivating in their horror. People running and screaming in the face of nature’s unstoppable charge…man’s marks of civilization: housing, cars, etc…all scattered like useless toys…the dead piling up…
Once again, it’s an event that seems taken from the movies…yet it’s horribly real.
For this to have happened at any time of year would have been bad enouugh, but to happen at Christmas time adds just another layer of anguish and misery.
My sister turned to me, after watching the horrible images, and said “we’re so lucky to be living where we are.” And she’s right — the odd severe thunderstorm and snow storm aside, Southern Ontario (and Kitchener in particular) is about as safe as you can get, in terms of natural disasters. It gives us the luxury to be mesmerized by the pictures of destruction coming from South Asia…and it makes us pray even harder for the people suffering from nature’s wrath.
If this disaster makes one think of anything, it’s that we should cherish what we have…because our existence is brief and ephemeral. Nature has just proved this very decisively, so go and hug your family or significant other, and tell them how much they matter to you. You never know when the time will come when they won’t be around to hear such loving words.
